Effects of motivational interventions on EFL learners’ willingness to communicate, self-confidence, and anxiety : an experimental study

Abstract

Adopting a quasi-experimental design, this study investigated the effects of motivational interventions on second language (L2) willingness to communicate (WTC), self-confidence, and anxiety over a period of 27 weeks. A total of 391 Chinese junior secondary students were assigned to four instructional conditions: Instruction incorporating no motivational strategies (control condition), instruction supported by experience-related motivational strategies (Intervention 1), instruction utilizing vision-related motivational strategies (Intervention 2), and instruction drawing on experience-related and vision-related motivational strategies (Intervention 3). The effects of the interventions were assessed through measures administered at three timepoints to track changes in participants’ WTC, self-confidence, and anxiety. A combination of two-way mixed design ANOVAs and post-hoc pairwise comparisons revealed that all three motivational interventions had significantly positive effects on the outcome measures immediately after the interventions. Furthermore, while all three interventions demonstrated sustained effects on L2 self-confidence and anxiety, only the vision and integrated treatments had a lasting impact on L2 WTC. Of the three interventions, integrated motivational strategies produced the strongest effect on L2 WTC, followed by vision-related and experience-related motivational strategies. The vision-related and integrated interventions were equally effective and outperformed the experience-related intervention in their effects on L2 self-confidence. All interventions had comparable effects on L2 anxiety.